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Saturday, March 26, 2011

Knipmode 2/11 - Sleeveless Cardigan

One of the blogs I follow is Fehr Trade. Melissa is a fan of KnipMode magazine, a pattern magazine from the Netherlands. Her review of the February issue finally pushed me into buying my first copy.

KnipMode is similar to Burda. You trace the pattern and add seam allowances. The text is in Dutch, but I was able to translate it using Google translate. The only word I couldn't get a good definition for was "panden", which Google translated to "buildings." So "Stik de schoudernaden van de panden" translated to "Sew the shoulder seams of the buildings." It was good enough, but I am curious what "panden" actually translates to in sewing terms. :)

In the February issue, I was intrigued by a cardigan which was not to Melissa's taste, but I loved the look of it. The most intriguing feature was the pocket design, which looked promising, but I couldn't tell what was going on, exactly.

Line Drawing

One thing I like about KnipMode, is that they show a garment made up in different fabrics and on different women. Here is the same cardigan, shown five ways.

Once I had received the issue, I saw that the pocket is drawn onto the front and back pieces - it's not a separate pattern piece. Several inches below the armhole, the pattern tissue zags 90° away from the body, then tapers back. And it's not really a pocket, it's more of a drape. Now that I have made it, about the most you can put into it is a tissue. But sometimes a tissue is enough. :)

I realized that the models in the magazine are wearing the cardi with the pocket "pushed in". I didn't care for it this way because if your hands are not in the tiny pockets, it just looks as if you hadn't pressed your side seam. I like the pocket "partly" pushed in - maybe the length of a finger, so you can see the soft drape.

I cut the largest size - 46 - and performed an FBA. Not because I needed it to close at the front, but I didn't want it to look "skimpy" over the bust.

I made the facing go all around the outer edge. The pattern has a curved facing that ends at the side seams. I drafted a facing for the back hem and made it one giant facing that was sewn to the outside. I also changed the construction order a bit to accommodate this change.

I cut the facing from the coordinating stripe fabric, which I cut as off-grain as possible, and sewed it to the outside edge.

When I had completed the body of the cardigan, I tried it on and my sewing buddies unanimously thought I should leave the sleeves off. So I drafted facings for the armholes, and finished it as a vest.

I flat felled all seams except for the side seam. Flat felling wouldn't work with the funky pocket.

I don't usually wear vests or sleeveless layers, but I'm going to give the look a try. I just made the eShrug, which is similar with it's short sleeves. I'm a late-comer to the sleeveless layer party. :)

What a coincidence! Melissa's review of the April KnipMode prompted me to order that one and it just came today! "Pand" seems roughly analogous to "panel" and "panden" seems to refer to pieces that extend from the shoulders to the waist or beyond? So "voorpand" is bodice front or dress front, "achterpand" is bodice back, "zijpand" is bodice side, and "belegvoorpand" is seige front?

We can't get Knipmode here, so I'm a wee bit jealous! Your sleeveless vest is gorgeous, and that striped edging looks deceptively simple, although I'm sure it wasn't easy to get the stripes perfectly shaped to the edge like that on each side!Have you asked Lauriana from petite main savage if she could translate? Those google translations are pretty hopeless when it comes to sewing terms, some I've come across a lot is "grind" for "alter", and "boss" for "pattern" Completely nonsensical. So I read on Helene's blog (after google translation, she writes in French) how there was "no need to grind the boss" with one particular garment... lol!

Love your take on the "pockets". My daughter made this one, and I was not so happy with them, though she was. Love the way you did the trim.And KC is mostly right in her translation. Only "beleg voorpand" means "front bodice facing".